BRIDGETON — The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled to censure a Bridgeton attorney.

John P. Morris is being censured for violating four separate legal codes, including lack of diligence, failure to keep client reasonably informed about the status of the matter, failure to expedite litigation and conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

The censure is the equivalent of a black mark on Morris’ record. It doesn’t restrict anything he’s allowed to do, but it is something that will be taken into account concerning his conduct in the future.

Originally, the District IIIB Ethics Committee (DEC) called for a three-month suspension for Morris. The matter went before the Disciplinary Review Board, which determined a censure was the appropriate course of action. A censure is a step below a suspension.

The board also ruled that the entire record of the matter be made a permanent part of Morris’ record, and that Morris must reimburse the Disciplinary Oversight Committee for appropriate administrative costs and actual expenses incurred in the prosecution of the matter.

Morris was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1974.

According to a press release from the Office of Attorney Ethics, in 1996, he was admonished for gross neglect, lack of diligence and failure to communicate in an estate matter. Two years later, he was reprimanded for gross neglect in another estate matter.

In 2008, he was admonished again, this time for engaging in a conflict of interest when he continued to represent a client after learning that his wife was engaged in a romantic relationship with the client.